SctoRail train crew shortage sparks cancellation of further Highland trains
Rail passengers in the north will face further cancellations on Friday, it has been announced.
ScotRail's 8.55am Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh service and the 12.08pm train in the opposite direction have both been cancelled due to "a shortage of train crew".
The services have been replaced by buses, with a D&E coach operating between the stations instead.
The cancellations cap a week of travel disruption for passengers in the north Highlands, with staff shortages, signal failures and a two-month long set of engineering works all disrupting rail journeys in the past four days.
Some trains have also been extremely late reaching their destination due to the lack of a passing place between Inverness and Muir of Ord - with one train from Kyle to Inverness running an hour and 40 minutes behind schedule at one point this week after being forced to wait at Muir of Ord for a gap to proceed.
The disruption came in the same week that ScotRail hailed the return of a full timetable on routes across Scotland for the first time since the summer, after resolving a pay dispute with staff.
